SPARTANBURG, S.C. (April 14, 2013) – The ETSU men’s golf team makes its final tune up before the Atlantic Sun Championship this week as the Bucs head to Spartanburg, S.C., for the Coca-Cola Invitational. The tournament, hosted by Wofford, begins Monday morning at the Country Club of Spartanburg.

The A-Sun Championship will be held April 21-23 at The Legends Course in Braselton, Ga.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE BUCS

- The Bucs are back in action for the first time since March 22-24 when ETSU finished tied for 11th at the Furman Intercollegiate.

-Sophomore Rhys Pugh(Pontypridd, Wales) and Chris Hickman(Centreville, Md.) paced the Blue and Gold at the Furman University Golf Club, as the Buccaneer duo finished in a five-way tie for 28th. Pugh (73-73-75) and Hickman (76-70-75) both shot 3-over in the final round and totaled three-round scores of 5-over 221.

ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT

- ETSU has won two of the last three Coca-Cola Invitational titles as the Bucs rallied from 11 shots back to win the 2011 crown over Richmond, while the Blue and Gold led wire-to-wire to win the 2010 championship.

- Charleston Southern returns to defend its title as the Buccaneers snapped ETSU’s two-year run in 2012. Charleston Southern won the championship by 10 strokes (841 to 851) over ETSU – who finished runner-up last season.

- Scott Gibson (Southerness, Scotland) finished fifth last year in the tournament after registering a three-round score of 6-under-par 210, while Pugh tied for eighth at 3-under 213. Overall, the Bucs had four players finish in the top-11 in 2012.

- The two-day, 54-hole event will begin on Monday with 36-holes contested on the par-72, 6,648-yard layout. Tuesday’s final round will consist of 18-holes.

THE FIELD

- The 16-team field consists of schools from the Atlantic Sun (3), Big South (7), CAA (1), and SoCon (5).

- ETSU features the same lineup the Bucs have used all season which includes two sophomores – Gibson and Pugh – along with three freshmen. The freshmen include Hickman, Adrian Meronk (Wroclaw, Poland) and Gudmundur Kristjansson(Reykjavik, Iceland).

- According to the latest Golfstat rakings, the Buccaneer freshman class is ranked fifth as their 74.46 scoring average is behind only Arizona State (72.89), Clemson (73.60), SMU (73.32) and Illinois (73.64).

- The Bucs are paired up with Charleston Southern, Furman, and High Point. A shotgun start begins Monday at 9:30 a.m.

COVERAGE

Live scoring will not be provided for this week’s tournament. Visit ETSUBucs.com for complete results following play on Monday and Tuesday.

TEXTCASTER

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For more information on Buccaneer men’s golf, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s golf page.